NEW BRUNSWICK — NJ Senate President Steven Sweeney called the crash that killed one and injured four, including comedian Tracy Morgan, a reminder of why drivers cannot drive with sleep deprivation.

Sweeney commented on the accusations from court papers today that Kevin Roper, 35, of Jonesboro, Ga. had not slept in 24 hours before he got behind the wheel of his tractor-trailer.

Sweeney sponsored “Maggie’s Law,”, which made it a crime to knowingly get behind the wheel of a car if the driver has been awake for longer than 24 hours. Anyone doing so and causing a fatal accident can be charged with vehicular homicide. The bill was signed in 2003.

Early Saturday morning Roper’s Wal-Mart truck slammed into a limo van carrying Morgan and others in Cranbury, killing one passenger and sending Morgan and two others to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick with life threatening injuries, authorities have charged.

Roper is charged with causing the death of one of Morgan’s friends, James McNair, 62, of Peekskill, N.Y., “specifically by operating” his truck “on the New Jersey Turnpike without having slept for a period in excess of 24 hours resulting in a motor vehicle accident.”

He is also charged with four counts of assault by auto for injuring Morgan, comic Ardie Fuqua, 43, of Jersey City, Morgan’s assistant Jeffrey Millea, 36, of Shelton Conn., and comedian Harris Stanton, 37, of Brooklyn.

Morgan, Fuqua and Millea are still in critical condition at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

Sweeney said “the driver is entitled to his day in court, but if these allegations are true, it is a startling reminder of why Maggie’s Law was necessary in the first place. The effects of sleep deprivation can be just as hazardous as those of drugs and alcohol. When people go without sleep and get behind the wheel, they are putting their lives and the lives on everyone they encounter on the road in danger.”

“As the investigation into this crash continues, we hope for a full recovery for those still in the hospital,” the senate president said. “We also hope that out of this tragedy will come further examination and discussion on how we prevent people from driving sleep deprived.”

Authorities said Roper failed to see slow-moving traffic ahead of his rig as he headed north through Cranbury. He has been released on $50,000 bail and is facing his first court appearance Wednesday.

Roper has been placed on administrative leave, according to WalMart spokesman David Tovar.

Maggie’s Law is named for 20-year-old Maggie McDonald who was killed in 1997 when a driver crossed three lanes of traffic and hit her car head on. The driver had been awake for more than 24 hours.

New Jersey was the first state in the nation to make it a crime to cause a fatal accident while driving sleep deprived.